Driving The Great Northwest - From the Redwoods to the Oregon Coast

It's 8:30am and it's a beautiful morning as we start our day from McKinleyville up the US101.  There is a nice light rain falling with the ocean on our left and nothing but green up ahead.

I've choosen the US101 as our route to Vancouver Washington because the scenery that you can see while driving is absolutely breathtaking!  Besides that, there are so many points of interest along the way.  And within 30 minutes we see Roosevelt Elk right along the highway just outside of Orick!

Soon we were in the Redwood National Forest and here we decide to take the more scenic route and exit at the Newton B Drury/Scenic Pkwy.  This takes you through these magnificent trees on a very narrow winding road with some spectacular views of the ocean.  There are several stops that you can take along the way and follow a trail.  We took advantage of this at "Big Tree".

We spent a lot of time exploring this area but it was time to continue up the coast.  And of course once we arrived in "Crescent City" it was time to take another break.  Why? We had only driven about 30 miles.  Because there is a lighthouse here people!   And you know me and my lighthouses.    I've been to the "Battery Point Lighthouse"  before, but I've only been able to enjoy it from a distance.  You can only visit the lighthouse when the tide is out, and lucky for us....it was!

After about another 30 minutes of driving we finally hit the Oregon State line!

Your probably wondering by now, do we ever eat?  Well we did have a nice breakfast that was included at the Holiday Inn Express back in McKinleyville this morning.  So 40 minutes into the State of Oregon we stop in "Gold Beach" and get ourselves a Blizzard from Dairy Queen.  We then found ourselves a spot on the mouth of the Rogue River and enjoyed not only our blizzard's but the spectacular views and the barking of some sea lions sunning themselves on the docks and shoreline.

After driving about another hour we make one last stop in "Bandon-by-the Sea", before reaching our destination today of Coos Bay Oregon.  No we didn't stop here to have a decent meal, we stopped because the "Coquille River Lighthouse" is here and I must have pictures!

 

What a great day and about 30 minutes later we are checking into our room at "The Mill Casino" at 5:30pm.  As comfy and cozy as our room looks we are now officially hungry! 

We decide to have dinner at "The Plankhouse"  whick is located right here at The Mill.  This was the perfect choice with a little table for two and a view of the sun setting over Coos Bay while enjoying our seafood Paella and a nice bottle of Oregon wine.

There are so many more pictures of our day here "Where's Debbie". Just click on the album "Redwoods to Oregon Coast"

Oregon on Dwellable

Driving The Great Northwest - Snow, Sun and Rain, Can't Keep Us Away!

It's time to hit the road, and nothing was going to stop us from making our destination today!  Not even snow!

We woke up bright and early in Reno and discovered that it had snowed overnight.  This of course didn't bother me at all. I lived in central Nevada for 30 years and you just don't let snow get in your way of going where you want to go.

So we filled up with gas and made our way up US395 to Susanville for some breakfast at the "Black Bear Diner".  This is a great place to have breakfast at a moderate cost, but boy you better be hungry.  The servings are huge!

The sun is shining now and after our hearty breakfast we headed out of Susanville on CA36 towards Red Bluff.  But along the way the snow started to fall again and since we didn't have chains (which were required to continue) we are forced to alter our route at the CA32 and detour to Chico.  This turned our 106 mile drive to Red Bluff from Susanville to 141 miles.

The rest of our drive was certainly alot less stressful with only some light and heavy rain showers as we continued west from Red Bluff on CA299 through the Trinity National Forest.

It was a long day!  And about 10 hours later we arrived on the coast of California and stayed the night in McKinleyville.  Our room at the "Holiday Inn Express and Suites" was a welcomed retreat.  With a recommendation from the hotel reception, we decided to take a little drive up the US101 to "Trinidad" and have dinner at the Seascape Restaurant.

What a perfect place to have dinner.  On a pier overlooking the ocean, eating seafood and having a glass of wine while reflecting on our day and all the elements we had to endure to get here.

There are a few more pictures of our day.  If you would like to see them click here "Where's Debbie" and then click on the album "Making it to the Coast"